


'cause that language is broken

by plinys



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: M/M, Mission Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-02
Updated: 2015-08-02
Packaged: 2018-04-10 09:32:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,566
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4386701
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/plinys/pseuds/plinys
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is the first time they’ve really talked since everything went down.  And they’re not even talking to each other.</p>
            </blockquote>





	'cause that language is broken

**Author's Note:**

  * For [cathybites](https://archiveofourown.org/users/cathybites/gifts).



> I hope you enjoy! :)

“You boy’s having fun?”

“Oh more than you can imagine,” Mack says, to a person that’s not even there.

And Fitz titters beside him, “The party’s going slower than I expected.”

This is the first time they’ve really talked since _everything_ went down.

 And they’re not even talking to each other, sure he’s smiling at Mack, and Mack’s got his arm tight around Fitz’s waist, but none of it’s real.

No matter how much he might have once (and still) wanted it to be.

 “Darling,” he says, because it’s easier than saying the fake name they’re supposed to be using, “Is everything alright?”

Technically Mack wasn’t even supposed to have been on this mission.

How was he to have known that when Hunter came along insisting he was sick with the fakest cough ever, that the reason he wanted out of the mission wasn’t because of something to do with Bobbi, but rather because he was an interfering bastard? Since the conflict of the two SHIELDs and their reconnection Hunter had been a pain sure, but at least he’d forgive Mack easily enough.

Fitz, on the other hand, wouldn’t even look at him most days.

“Fine,” Fitz mumbles out, voice low enough that only Mack can hear, “Just bloody fine.”

Mack drops his voice down just as quietly when he goes to speak, resting his hand on Fitz’s back in a way that’s both supposed to  be comforting and intimate enough to match their cover, “You sure?”       

He can’t help but notice the way Fitz seems to instinctively flinch from his hand, before seeming to remember where they were and awkwardly leaning back against his hand once more.

Whatever Fitz’s answer would have been is silenced, as Skye’s voice carries over their comms, “Fredrickson just left his office, you’ve got about a thirty minute window, if you boy’s would be so kind?”

Skye was monitoring the cameras from a van across the street. Their mission had simply been to get into the party as Mr. Washburn and his husband, without drawing any suspicion, before slipping off into the back to upload Skye’s hacking program on one of their mark’s hard drives.

A simple in and out mission, could have been almost fun, had his partner been willing to enjoy himself instead of trying to stealthily glare are Mack. For a spy he was doing a rather poor job.

“Shall we,” Mack asks, offering his arm to Fitz.

Which, after a seconds of pause, Fitz does take. Though he drops the arm as soon as they are in a hallway away from the party. For a few moments the only sound between them is the sound of spy grade dress shoes tapping across tiled floors, and Skye’s voice over their own personal comms giving directions to their mark’s office.

Though the silence between them feels so much more than simply the quite of a mission going well. It feels almost like an eternity is between them, a gap that no matter how much Mack tries he cannot seem to bridge.

The silence, is only broken, when they stop in front of a door to the aforementioned office.

“I don’t suppose you can hack a lock,” Mack asks, and is met with laughter over the comm and a reassurance that not in this case she can’t.

“Hold on,” Fitz mumbles, “I’ve got a – a thing, picks the locks.”

And he does, a second later, pulling a small device out of his pocket and fitting it onto the lock. There’s a long drawn out second where nothing seems to happen, before the door swings open before them, easy as that. While Fitz slips inside, Mack holds back for a second, double checking that the coast is clear before shutting the door once more.

From there the mission’s essentially over.

“Thank you boys for your most generous assistance,” Skye says a minute later, “Now get your butts over here so we can head home.”

“You ready,” Fitz asks, pushing away from the computer, and tucking the flash drive back into his pocket.

“Yeah, Turbo, let’s get out of here.”

With the bug planted, and the information already loading to where Skye waited for them in a van across the street, there wasn’t much else left to do but slip out the backdoor and pretend this whole mission never happened. Which was probably for the best, since that seemed exactly like what Fitz was going to do – the other man’s only reaction to his nickname had been to tense once more, before pushing past Mack and out into the hallway from which they had come.

The mission had gone smoothly, almost too smoothly. He should have known something was going to go wrong.

The sound of another few pairs of footsteps coming down the hall seems almost too sudden, and there’s no doubt in his mind that they’re going to look suspicious. Really Mack has two options: grab the gun hidden under his suit jacket and prepare for a fight (and to protect Fitz) or create a distraction.

It takes one look, at the vaguely worried look on Fitz’s face to make the decision for him.

Technically Mack’s done this plenty of times before, it was a popular technique at the SHIELD Academy, and one that Bobbi loved to employee anytime she was on a mission. However, this was _Fitz_ , not just anybody.

Perhaps that was why his grip on the other man is no so much desperate, but more reverent as he pushes Fitz against one of the hallway walls, before pressing their lips together. He had thought about kissing Fitz before, plenty of times, particularly when they had been working together in the garage or playing video games on base, leaning across the space between them and bringing their lips together. He’d just never imagined it would go down like this.

With Fitz standing tense against him, eyes wide open and startled, before seeming to realize what was happening and kissing him just as desperate. A small moan coming across his lips, as he opens them almost welcomingly for Mack.

The illusion of what could have been doesn’t last nearly as long as Mack would have liked.

As soon as the footsteps have cleared down the other end of the hallway, there are hands up against Mack’s shoulders doing the best attempt to push him away. He doesn’t have to step back, he’s physically stronger than Fitz and that push really amounts to nothing, but he steps back anyways. Better to give him space, after whatever that was.

There’s an angry look in Fitz’s eyes, when Mack finally focuses in the darkness to look down at him. Though his lips are kiss swollen, and his hands still rest uselessly against Mack’s shoulders.

 “What the bloody hell was that?”

“Distraction,” Mack offers, “Basic SHIELD technique, public displays of affection make people unwilling to look too closely at-“

“No, not – not that,” Fitz says, his right hand thumping softly against Mack’s shoulders this time, like he used to before when they would be in the garage together and he’d forget a word, “Not that, _that_ , what was – you know what I mean, damn it – this isn’t – I can’t, you can’t.”

“Fitz, breathe.”

“Don’t tell me what to do,” he snaps, but at least this time he seems to manage to get the words out. And though he’s still glaring up at Mack, he does take a few deep breaths, before attempting to speak again. “Why did you kiss me like that? Like it meant something?”

As far as things he had been expecting Fitz to say, those words were not it.

Yet, Mack cannot help but answer honestly. “Because I wish it was.”

“You can’t just say things like that,” Fitz says, voice desperate, though his hands are not pushing Mack away, “You can’t turn out just like – like,” he shakes his head, unable to finish the sentence, “And then come back – pretend everything’s normal and kiss me like I’ve been wanting to kiss you. It’s not fair – you can’t.”

“Wait, are you saying that-“ It’s Mack who doesn’t get to finish his sentence this time, because Fitz is pressing up on his toes, and the arms on his shoulders move to the back of his neck, pulling him forward so that their lips can meet once more.

In a kiss, that breaks all of the silence and unspoken things between them.

How long had he been foolishly holding back from this?

This time when the kiss breaks, there’s no angry hands pushing him away, but fingers gripping tightly onto his suit jacket as though if he let go Mack might go away. The look in his eyes, when Mack lowers his gaze to meet them is not angry this time, but perhaps worried and a bit aroused.

“That’s how you’re supposed to do it – to kiss somebody for the first time if you mean it.”

“I’ll kiss you a hundred more times once we get out of here,” Mack says.

And it’s just like that that they both seem to remember where they are, and the mission that still needs to be finished.

“Right - we should do that, yes?”

There’s still so much more that needs to be said between them, words that have gone unspoken far too long, but perhaps for now, all that matters, is Mack replying, “Yes.”


End file.
